Mannerist and Baroque Drawings Inspired by Antiquity

attributed to Pirro Ligorio
Bacchic Procession among Trees
before 1583
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

attributed to Pirro Ligorio
Scene from Roman History
before 1583
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Lelio Orsi
Apollo driving the Chariot of the Sun, with Aurora
before 1587
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

attributed to Lelio Orsi
Jupiter destroying the Giants with his Thunderbolt
before 1587
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

from Sea-Heroes

Crash on crash of the sea,
straining to wreck men; sea-boards, continents,
raging against the world, furious,
stay at last, for against your fury
and your mad fight,
the line of heroes stands, godlike:

Akroneos, Oknolos, Elatreus,
helm-of-boat, loosener-of-helm, dweller-by-sea,
Nauteus, sea-man,
Prumneos, stern-of-ship,
Agchilalos, sea-girt,
Elatreus, oar-shaft:
lover-of-the-sea, lover-of-the-sea-ebb,
lover-of-the-swift-sea,
Ponteus, Proreus, Oöos:
Anabesneos, who breaks to anger
as a wave to froth:
Amphiolos, one caught between
wave-shock and wave-shock:
Eurualos, board sea-wrack,
like Ares, man's death,
and Naubolidos, best in shape,
of all first in size:
Phaekous, sea's thunderbolt –
ah, crash on crash of great names –
man-tamer, man's-help, perfect Laodamos:
and last the sons of great Alkinöos,
Laodamos, Halios, and god-like Clytomeos.

Of all nations, of all cities,
of all continents,
she is favoured above the rest,
for she gives men as great as the sea,
to battle against the elements and evil:
greater even than the sea,
they live beyond wrack and death of cities,
and each god-like name spoken
is as a shrine in a godless place.

– H.D. (1920)

attributed to Giovanni Battista Naldini
Thetis receiving from Vulcan the Shield of Achilles
before 1591
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Anonymous Italian Artist
Satyr blowing a Conch, Roman Soldier seated on a Rock, and a Male Standing Nude
17th century
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Jacopo Ligozzi
Three Roman Warriors and Three Other Men in Conversation
before 1626
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Giovanni Francesco Romanelli
Death of Dido
ca. 1630-40
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Cavaliere d'Arpino
Hermaphroditus
before 1640
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

attributed to Lazzaro Tavarone
Roman Soldier and Maiden Betrothed
before 1641
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Andrea Sacchi
Allegory on the Foundation of Rome
before 1661
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Stefano della Bella
Three Standing Figures in Antique Costumes
before 1664
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

attributed to Giulio Carpioni
Realm of Hypnos
before 1679
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Ludovico Gimignani
Diana appearing to Aeneas and Achates
before 1697
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Renaissance and Mannerist Drawings Inspired by Antiquity

Andrea Mantegna
Roman Soldier seated on his Shield
ca/ 1500
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

workshop of Perino del Vaga
Apollo driving the Chariot of the Sun
ca. 1519-21
drawing
Art Institute of Chicago

Giulio Romano
Apollo and Pan
ca. 1535
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Baldassare Peruzzi
Jupiter on a Plinth
before 1536
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

from A Poem for Painters

Our age bereft of nobility
          How can our faces show it?
I look for love.
          My lips stand out
dry and cracked with want
                                       of it.
                                      Oh it is well.
My poem shall show the need of it.

– John Wieners (1958)

attributed to Rosso Fiorentino
Battle between Centaurs and Lapiths
before 1540
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Rosso Fiorentino
Mucius Scaevola thrusting his Hand into the Flame
before 1540
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Anonymous artist after Polidoro da Caravaggio
Camillus adding his Sword to the Tribute Money paid to the victorious Gauls under Brennus
(copy of façade fresco)
16th century
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Anonymous artist after Polidoro da Caravaggio
One of the Hesperides
(copy of façade fresco - detail)
16th century
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Anonymous artist after Polidoro da Caravaggio
Niobe and her Children
(copy of façade fresco - detail)
16th century
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Anonymous artist after Polidoro da Caravaggio
Roman Soldiers arresting an Elderly Man
(copy of façade fresco)
16th century
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

attributed to Agnolo Bronzino
Narcissus and Nymphs
before 1572
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Giovanni Ambrogio Figino
Study of the Elder Son in the Laocoön sculpture group
1587-88
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Giovanni Ambrogio Figino
Studies of two Antique Statues in Roman collections
1587-88
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Giovanni Ambrogio Figino
Two studies of the Belvedere Torso at the Vatican
1587-88
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Painted Evocations of the Classical World (now in Stockholm)

Simon Peter Tilemann
Roman Triumphal Parade
1641
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Pieter-Lastman-
Dido's Sacrifice to Juno
1630
oil on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Gérard de Lairesse
Achilles discovered by Ulysses among the daughters of Lycomedes
ca. 1675-80
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Bertholet Flemalle
Achilles wounded in the Heel
before 1675
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"A fragmented wall painting from the first century C.E. shows two figures who have been thought to be Apollo and Paris, both equipped with bow and arrow.  Because the figures are static and because there is some indication of a structure in the scene, I think it may depict the late version of Achilles' death in which he is ambushed in the temple of Thymbraean Apollo.  Two reliefs from the third century C.E. more certainly depict this story.  Bronze paneling on a chariot (called the "Tensa Capitolina") displays a number of scenes from the life of Achilles, including one thought to depict Paris aiming an arrow at Achilles as Apollo points to his lower leg.  The unarmored Achilles stands before an altar, unaware of danger behind him."

– Jonathan Burgess, from Achilles' Heel: The Death of Achilles in Ancient Myth (in the journal Classical Antiquity, October 1995)

Johan Fredrik Hörling
Scene from Antiquity
1746
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Carl Marcus Tuscher
Mercury confiding the infant Bacchus to the Nymphs on Nysa
before 1751
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Pompeo Batoni
Acis and Galatea threatened by Polyphemus
1761
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Toussaint Gelton
Diana in Landscape
1660
oil on copper
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Thomas Blanchet
Cleobis and Biton
before 1689
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

"This discourse of Solon's, with its cataloguing of  all the ways in which Tellus had been truly happy, had certainly served to pique Croesus' interest; and so it was, confident that he would be named the runner-up at least, he asked Solon for the name of the second happiest person on his list.  "Cleobis and Biton," Solon answered promptly, "two young men of Argos, because they never lacked for means, and also because of their remarkable physical strength.  Not only were they both prize-winning athletes, but there is also the following story told about them.  The episode took place during an Argive festival in honour of Hera, when their mother urgently needed to be driven to the temple in their cart, but early in the day, before the oxen had been brought back from the fields.  There being no time to lose, the two young men shouldered the yoke themselves and pulled the cart, with their mother riding on top of it, for a full 45 stades, all the way to the temple.  Everyone who had gathered for the festival was a witness to this exploit, and then, in its wake, the two young men died in the best way possible: a divinely authored proof that it is better to be dead than alive.  The Argives kept crowding around them, congratulating them on their strength, and the women of the city kept telling their mother how fortunate she was in her children.  In due course, such was the rapture of her joy at her sons' achievement and the fame they had won, that she went to stand before the statue of Hera, and prayed to the goddess that she would bestow upon her children, her Cleobis and Biton, who had brought her such great honour, the greatest blessing that it is possible for mortals to be granted.  The mother finished her prayer; and then came the sacrifices and the feasting; and then the young men passed inside the temple and fell asleep, never to wake up again; and in this way their lives were brought to a close.  The Argives made statues of them, which were then sent to Delphi – for it was clear that they had been the very best that men can be."

– from The Histories of Herodotus (ca. 440 BC), translated by Tom Holland (Viking, 2013)

Thorald Læssøe
Temple of Venus and Roma in the Forum, Rome
ca. 1840-50
oil on paper, mounted on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Jan Baptist Weenix
Harbour with Antique Ruins
1648
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Johan Pasch
Ruinous Palace Arcade with opulent Still-life
before 1769
oil on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Gustaf Söderberg
Classical Temple in Agrigento, Sicily
before 1875
oil on paper, mounted on panel
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Constantin Hansen
Temple of Minerva on the Forum of Nerva. Rome
ca. 1840
oil on paper, mounted on canvas
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Narratives in Marble from Workshops of the Roman Empire

Hellenistic workshop
Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
Marriage procession and sea-creatures relief-panel
ca. 100 BC
marble
Glyptothek, Munich

Hellenistic workshop
Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
Marriage procession and sea-creatures relief-panel (detail)
ca. 100 BC
marble
Glyptothek, Munich

Hellenistic workshop
Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
Marriage procession and sea-creatures relief-panel (detail)
ca. 100 BC
marble
Glyptothek, Munich

Hellenistic workshop
Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
Marriage procession and sea-creatures relief-panel (detail)
ca. 100 BC
marble
Glyptothek, Munich

The reliefs illustrated above (four panels, now in Munich) and below (three panels, now in Paris) were once united on a single Roman structure, traditionally identified as the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus.  "These reliefs are in fact not from an altar, but probably once adorned the base of a large statue-group set up ca. 100 BC.  The reliefs have different origins and themes, and their combination is an interesting illustration of the processes of acculturation taking place in Rome at the time.  The decorative reliefs on three sides of the base [above] were taken from a monument made in the Greek East and were probably brought to Rome as booty, while that on the fourth [below] was made in Rome to serve as the monument of a Roman official.  The Greek reliefs celebrate the marriage of Poseidon, god of the sea, to his bride, Amphitrite, who is seated demurely beside him on a chariot drawn by Tritons – strange hybrid creatures that are half man, half fish.  The panels are dominated by the cheerful procession and its attendants, beautiful Nereids (sea-nymphs) riding on sea-beasts and Tritons.  By contrast, the far less artistic images carved in Rome for the fourth side presumably allude to the actual occasion that the monument commemorated, namely a Roman censor's final sacrifice to Mars; the god is depicted as physically present, dressed in his armor.  To the left of the altar is an administrative scene, with tax officials registering information on tablets and (to the right of the procession) examining the horses of Roman equites (cavalrymen) liable for military service."  

Roman workshop
Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
Census relief-panel
ca. 100 BC
marble
Musée du Louvre

Roman workshop
Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
Census relief-panel (detail)
ca. 100 BC
marble
Musée du Louvre

Roman workshop
Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
Census relief-panel (detail)
ca. 100 BC
marble
Musée du Louvre

Roman workshop
Sarcophagus - Selene and Endymion
AD 240
marble
Galleria Doria Pamphilij, Rome

"The moon-goddess Selene/Luna visiting her lover Endymion.  When inhumation came into fashion soon after AD 100, so did luxurious coffins in the form of marble sarcophagi with carved reliefs.  The reliefs often use mythical scenes to allude to the sorrow felt by the mourning relatives and to evoke the virtues of the dead.  In the myth, Luna would halt her chariot every night in order to visit Endymion, who, asleep in a cave, never aged.  On sarcophagi the pair became a symbol for lovers who manage to maintain their connection even beyond the separation of death."

Roman workshop
Sarcophagus - Dionysus and followers
mid-3rd century AD
marble
Musée du Louvre

"Sarcophagi with images of Dionysus and his followers were especially popular.  The retinue of the wine-god, playing musical instruments, dancing and reveling, is celebrated as the embodiment of vitality, manifesting itself in ecstatic festivity.  The figures of the drunken Silenus and Hercules are thus intended to be regarded positively.  How should we interpret these images of pleasure and happiness in funerary contexts?  It seems that people wanted to reassure each other in the face of death that life – this life – is beautiful and worth living, exactly in the sense of the motto carpe diem: use the time you have left; enjoy your days as well as you can; celebrate every day like a holiday, knowing that we all have to die.  Many inscriptions invoke such a view of life."  

Attic workshop
Sarcophagus - Discovery of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes
mid-3rd century AD
marble
Musei Capitolini, Rome

"This sarcophagus, more than nine feet long, made in an Attic workshop, was found near Rome in the sixteenth century.  The lid is crafted in the likeness of a bed (kline) with an extremely decorative mattress.  On it, we see a married couple, whose hairstyles suggest a date around the middle of the third century AD.  Unlike Roman sarcophagi, this one, like most sarcophagi made in Attica, is decorated with reliefs on all four sides.  On the front face is represented the discovery of Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes.  A trick devised by Odysseus involving trumpeters and weapons causes Achilles, who had been hiding among these women, to reveal his warlike nature.  The relief shows the moment when he tears off his women's clothes and snatches up a sword.  The Attic relief emphasizes the physical beauty of the young warriors."

Workshop in Asia Minor
Sarcophagus - Columnar type 
3rd-4th century AD
marble
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Melfi (Italy)

"Like Attic sarcophagi, those made by workshops in Asia Minor were very popular as impressive personal or family monuments and were exported to large towns all over the Mediterranean.  The one shown here is an especially fine example of the Anatolian "columnar" type.  The deities between the columns are represented using typical statue poses.  To contemporary viewers, this would have triggered associations between this dwelling for the dead and a palace.  The "door" of the sarcophagus is probably to be understood in the same way."

Roman workshop
Sarcophagus - Military commander
2nd century AD
marble
Palazzo Ducale, Mantua

"This second-century sarcophagus shows a military commander in various roles; the iconography is derived from the official art of the Empire.  We can assume that all three scenes show the same person at different stages of his life: in the sacrificial scene in the center, he appears as a young beardless man; in the two outer scenes, as an older man with a beard.  On the right, the man appears in a private scene of marital harmony: husband and wife clasp hands in a gesture of marital concord, while behind them we see the goddess of harmony who oversees peace in the household." 

Roman workshop
Statue of Augustus (detail of cuirass)
before AD 14
marble
Musei Vaticani, Rome

Roman workshop
Statue of Augustus 
before AD 14
marble
Musei Vaticani, Rome

"Cuirassed statue of Augustus.  Marble copy from the Villa of Livia at Prima Porta.  The original was a bronze, probably erected by the Senate, honoring Augustus for his success in persuading the king of the Parthians to return the legionary standards that had been lost by Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC.  The ornamentation and reliefs on the cuirass promote the event as a turning point of history with cosmic significance.  The emperor's bare feet associate him with heroes; the Eros riding a dolphin designates him as a descendant of Venus.  In the center of the image on the cuirass, the Parthian king can be seen returning one of the lost standards to a representative of Rome (perhaps Mars).  Beside the Roman is a dog (or perhaps the she-wolf).  The Parthian king's attire characterizes him as a "barbarian."  Lower down on either side of this main scene, Augustus's patron deities – Apollo (left, on a griffon) and Diana (right, on a hind) – signify the divine favor he enjoyed.  Higher up, two mourning women, representing nations subjected by force of arms, frame the scene.  One of them holds an empty sword sheath, meaning that her people have been disarmed and incorporated into the Empire; the other still holds a sword in her hand, meaning that her people have been forced into dependency and must now defend the imperial borders.  Thanks to the emperor's victories, happiness and opulence reign throughout the Empire, symbolized here by Tellus (Earth, below the main scene), holding a cornucopia and surrounded by infants.  In the top register, we see Night making way for Day, or rather Luna fleeing before Sol in his quadriga, beneath the sky's mantel spread by Caelus (the heavens)."


– Paul Zanker, from Roman Art, originally published in 2008, translated by Henry Heitmann-Gordon and published in English by the Getty Museum in 2010